A Better Bluesound AC Cable?

New PC built and up and running. With no time on the new cable it’s already better. Stock cable has a little bit of an edge on top but not too hot but it’s there. Comparing CD’s I’ve ripped to the drive sound much closer to the CD. Need to give it much more time to burn in but very promising. Took half hour to build and $160. All parts from VH Audio.

Whether or not going into a power conditioner I’d say it’s worth changing out the PC. I went with a shielded cable, and on a digital component that alone makes sense over the stock PC. Better plugs will help as well.  Definitely sounds much better.

Anyone looking to build a power cable for any equipment with the C7 plug, the 12 AWG shielded pair Cryo from VH Audio is a outstanding cable. I just built this PC with only twenty four hours or so on it and I’m floored how good it is on my Bluesound Vault II.

https://www.vhaudio.com/images/shieldedtwistedpairbulk.jpg

Used the following plugs.

https://www.vhaudio.com/images/fi-11mg.jpg

https://www.vhaudio.com/images/furutech-fi-8n.jpg

Tied the shield  to the wall plug ground pin. Really loving this Vault and through my DAC it sounds very good. Probably my best audio purchase in awhile. Having lots of fun with it.

I have had a bunch of C7/Figure 8 power cables.

I cannot remember the earlier ones, but I currently have the Audioquest NRG 1.5 and Nordost Purple Flare. Both are better than stock and worth getting at such a low price. The Nordost was the best in my current PC sound system.

I too tried the WireWorld C7 power cord, and it really shouldn't make a difference, but it seems to to me; it seems that the overall sound is more dynamic and better imaging, but since it takes about 2 minutes to change over between the cords and power up the Node 2 again, there's no way to do a direct A-to-B comparison.  I picked this one because I'm not an AudioQuest fan and they want $90-$120 for theirs depending on where you shop.  Pangea might have one for $50, I thought.  I check my cords with a voltage tester to see if it detects voltage, and with this cord it does - my Pangea cords, it does not.  The WW one is easier to work with flexibility-wise, and the connector seems more secure in the Node's IEC connector, where my thick Pangeas do not.  It comes down to - if you makes you happy and you can afford it, fine, but I wouldn't expect any magical properties and if you're not happy with any of your equipment, I'd spend the money there first.

FWIW, a Synergistic Research UEF blue consistently sounds smoother to me than other power cords I’ve tried (including a $15 Tripp-Lite Heavy Gauge Power Cord) when used on both a Denafrips Ares II DAC & a Pathos integrated amplifiers. My guess is that the Synergistic power cord may be better at channeling or rejecting analog interference such as EMI which can come across as harshness and lack of transparency.

BTW, the $15 Tripp-Lite Heavy Gauge Power Cord sounded pretty decent and was clearly smoother in sound than an $200 Audience forte f3 powerChord. I also tried out a Shunyata Venom that was pretty decent. I haven’t compared the Shunyata enough versus the $15 Tripp-Lite to know which is better because the Synergistic Research cord is just clearly more enjoyable (smoother, more detailed) than all of the other cords. I think the Shunyata and Tripp-Lite aren’t so far apart in sound quality. At least, not to a degree that is clearly evident to me.

I was lucky enough to have the Synergistic, Shunyata, Audience power cords loaned to me by a friend to see IF power cords made a difference that I could hear. Unfortunately, some do & it looks like I will be now several hundred dollars poorer. Haha.